Sometimes Evolution Can Work Quickly

Psychologists and educational researchers have pegged their [Ashkenazi's] average IQ at 107.5 to 115. That's only modestly higher than the overall European average of 100, but the gap is large enough to produce a huge difference in the proportion of geniuses. When a group's average IQ is 100, the percentage of people above 140 is 0.4%; when the average is 110, the genius rate is 2.3%.

Though Jews make up less than 3% of the U.S. population, they have won more than 25% of the Nobel Prizes awarded to American scientists since 1950, account for 20% of this country's chief executives and make up 22% of Ivy League students, the pair write. _LAT

IQ is important, it is real, and it is largely determined by a person's genes (working together with his environment). It is important to the political left for IQ to be unrelated to a person's genes. Since the political left dominates academia, the media, and most governments of the developed world, the plain truth about genes and IQ is often studiously ignored, papered over, and denied belligerently (but without evidence).

But whenever science is allowed to work without political interference, it discovers some fascinating things. For instance, the fact that natural selection can make some very important changes in a small breeding population of humans over the course of hundreds or a few thousands of years.

Jews first came to Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries, long before they were known for intellectual prowess, Cochran and Harpending say. They worked as traders before taking financial jobs made available by Christians who were forbidden by the Church from charging interest. By 1100, local registries listed most Ashkenazi Jews as lenders.

That set the stage for natural selection to do its work, Cochran and Harpending theorized. Jews didn't intermarry, keeping their gene pool closed. They were subjected to periodic persecution, which kept the population from outgrowing its professional niche.

According to the theory, the smartest individuals made the most money, and the wealthiest families had the most surviving children. The genes of the most intelligent Jews spread most, slowly raising the average IQ of the entire group.

Over 40 generations -- roughly 1,000 years -- an increase of just 0.3 points per generation would have added up to a cumulative advantage of 12 points, Cochran and Harpending theorized. Some of their other models projected a benefit of 16 to 20 IQ points. _LAT

Consider it a natural experiment in eugenics, with a very big payoff for humanity as a whole. Trickle down eugenics, if you will, where the benefits flowing from the scientific discovery and commercial enterprise of highly intelligent persons are propagated to society at large via western civilisation's slow enlightenment.

The coexistence of high rates of disease genes with high rates of genius within this population might be considered unfortunate. It is important for researchers to learn how to separate the beneficial effects of the genes from the disease-causing effects as soon as possible. But in a "politically correct" world of blindered leftists, who will fund the research?

It would be easy to test the theory, said Steven Pinker, a Harvard cognition researcher: "See if carriers of the Ashkenazi-typical genetic mutations score higher on IQ tests than their noncarrier siblings."

Cochran and Harpending readily acknowledge the need for such experiments. But they have no plans to do them. They say their role as theorists is to generate hypotheses that others can test.

"One criticism about our paper is 'It can't mean anything because they didn't do any new experiments,' " Cochran said. "OK, then I guess Einstein's papers didn't mean anything either." _LAT

The left is frightened of what scientists might find, should they be allowed to proceed with research that seeks out links between genes and intelligence. They have constructed a nice neat habitat of denial which suits their tastes. Card construction is not durable -- particularly with foundations of sand -- but it can last quite a long time with all the clown's horses and all the clown's men propping it up. Failure to prop up would mean loss of ideological purity, leading to an inevitable exile into outer darkness.

Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence (PDF) Cochran, Hardy, Harpending

The 10.000 Year Explosion by Greg Cochran and Henry Harpending Official Website

Order The 10,000 Year Explosion at Amazon.com